A realisation of ethical concerns with smartphone personal health monitoring apps

The pervasiveness of smartphones has facilitated a new way in which owners of devices can monitor their health using applications (apps) that are installed on their smartphones. Smartphone personal health monitoring (SPHM) collects and stores health related data of the user either locally or in a third party storing mechanism. They are also capable of giving feedback to the user of the app in response to conditions are provided to the app therefore empowering the user to actively make decisions to adjust their lifestyle. Regardless of the benefits that this new innovative technology offers to its users, there are some ethical concerns to the user of SPHM apps. These ethical concerns are in some way connected to the features of SPHM apps. From a literature survey, this paper attempts to recognize ethical issues with personal health monitoring apps on smartphones, viewed in light of general ethics of ubiquitous computing. The paper argues that there are ethical concerns with the use of SPHM apps regardless of the benefits that the technology offers to users due to SPHM apps’ ubiquity leaving them open to known and emerging ethical concerns. The paper then propose a need further empirical research to validate the claim

Ethics and social networking sites: A disclosive analysis of Facebook

Paper has been accepted for publication in Information, Technology and People.Purpose: This paper provides insights into the moral values embodied by a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook. We adopt the position that technology as well as humans has a moral character in order to disclose ethical concerns that are not transparent to users of the site. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based upon qualitative field work, involving participant observation, conducted over a two year period. Findings: Much research on the ethics of information systems has focused on the way that people deploy particular technologies, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. By focusing on technology as a moral actor with reach across and beyond the Internet, we reveal the complex and diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in our case and the consequent implications for governance of SNS. Research limitations/implications: We situate our research in a body of work known as disclosive ethics and argue for an ongoing process of evaluating SNS to reveal their moral importance. Along with other authors in the genre, our work is largely descriptive, but we engage with prior research by Brey and Introna to highlight the scope for theory development. Practical implications: Governance measures that require the developers of social networking sites to revise their designs fail to address the diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in this case. Such technologies need to be opened up to scrutiny on a regular basis to increase public awareness of the issues and thereby disclose concerns to a wider audience. We suggest that there is value in studying the development and use of these technologies in their infancy, or if established, in the experiences of novice users. Furthermore, flash points in technological trajectories can prove useful sites of investigation. Originality/value: Existing research on social networking sites either fails to address ethical concerns head on or adopts a tool view of the technologies so that the focus is on the ethical behaviour of users. We focus upon the agency, and hence the moral character, of technology to show both the possibilities for, and limitations of, ethical interventions in such cases

Online mental health treatment: Concerns and considerations

Concerns and considerations have emerged as mental health professionals contemplate the provision of mental health treatment over the Internet. This paper identifies perceptions of online mental health treatment among a national sample of 2,098 social workers, psychologists, and other professionals. These professionals were unlikely to provide online mental health treatment, although some used the Internet as an adjunct to clinical practice. They noted specific concerns related to the provision of mental health treatment online, including confidentiality of client information and liability issues. We explore these issues and discuss implications for professionals who provide mental health treatment

Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct. Recommendations for Good Scientific Practice and the Consumers of VR-Technology

The goal of this article is to present a first list of ethical concerns that may arise from research and personal use of virtual reality (VR) and related technology, and to offer concrete recommendations for minimizing those risks. Many of the recommendations call for focused research initiatives. In the first part of the article, we discuss the relevant evidence from psychology that motivates our concerns. In Section “Plasticity in the Human Mind,” we cover some of the main results suggesting that one’s environment can influence one’s psychological states, as well as recent work on inducing illusions of embodiment. Then, in Section “Illusions of Embodiment and Their Lasting Effect,” we go on to discuss recent evidence indicating that immersion in VR can have psychological effects that last after leaving the virtual environment. In the second part of the article, we turn to the risks and recommendations. We begin, in Section “The Research Ethics of VR,” with the research ethics of VR, covering six main topics: the limits of experimental environments, informed consent, clinical risks, dual-use, online research, and a general point about the limitations of a code of conduct for research. Then, in Section “Risks for Individuals and Society,” we turn to the risks of VR for the general public, covering four main topics: long-term immersion, neglect of the social and physical environment, risky content, and privacy. We offer concrete recommendations for each of these 10 topics, summarized in Table 1

Online behavioural tracking in Internet gambling research: ethical and methodological issues

In contrast to offline gambling, the use of online behavioural tracking presents an opportunity for researchers in the social sciences to examine the actual and real-time behaviour engaged in by gamblers. If gaming companies can use behavioural tracking to learn more about their clientele, there is no reason why researchers could not adopt the same practice in carrying out their research. After examining why the online medium is a good place to conduct research with online gamblers, the paper examines the (i) methodological issues in online gambling research, (ii) behavioural tracking tools in online gambling, (iii) the ethics of online data collection by the gambling industry, (iv) ethical issues in online behavioural tracking research, and (v) implications of online behavioural tracking for problem gambling screening criteria. In the main, the most salient problems that online researchers in the gambling studies field are likely to face concern ethical issues (informed consent, deception, public versus private spaces, lurking). Despite such ethical dilemmas, these are not insurmountable and can be remedied if careful thought and rationale is provided

BNCI systems as a potential assistive technology: ethical issues and participatory research in the BrainAble project

This paper highlights aspects related to current research and thinking about ethical issues in relation to Brain Computer Interface (BCI) and Brain-Neuronal Computer Interfaces (BNCI) research through the experience of one particular project, BrainAble, which is exploring and developing the potential of these technologies to enable people with complex disabilities to control computers. It describes how ethical practice has been developed both within the multidisciplinary research team and with participants. Results: The paper presents findings in which participants shared their views of the project prototypes, of the potential of BCI/BNCI systems as an assistive technology, and of their other possible applications. This draws attention to the importance of ethical practice in projects where high expectations of technologies, and representations of “ideal types” of disabled users may reinforce stereotypes or drown out participant “voices”. Conclusions: Ethical frameworks for research and development in emergent areas such as BCI/BNCI systems should be based on broad notions of a “duty of care” while being sufficiently flexible that researchers can adapt project procedures according to participant needs. They need to be frequently revisited, not only in the light of experience, but also to ensure they reflect new research findings and ever more complex and powerful technologies

Teaching Security Defense Through Web-Based Hacking at the Undergraduate Level

The attack surface for hackers and attackers is growing every day. Future cybersecurity professionals must have the knowledge and the skills to defend against these cyber attacks. Learning defensive techniques and tools can help defend against today’s attacks but what about tomorrow\u27s? As the types of attacks change so must the cybersecurity professional. The only way for the cybersecurity professional to achieve this nimbleness is to understand the structural anatomy of the various attack types. Understanding the threat environment is the key to future success. Security defense through offensive techniques should and can be taught at the undergraduate level. Using the OWASP Mutillidae project [5], students can have a self-contained, sandbox environment for dissecting and discussing cyber attacks

Ethical Dilemmas In Management: An African Perspective

The modern workplace is composed of people with diverse backgrounds in terms of nationality, culture, religion, age, education and socioeconomic status. Each of these people enters the work with different values, goals, and perceptions of acceptable behaviours. The diverse background creates ethical challenges for individuals as well as managers. There are issues and decisions that are to be made by workers in the organization that have implications for their job security and salary, and success of the organization. Pressure may be on the workers to protect their own interests, sometimes at the risk of losing personal and corporate integrity. This paper attempts to evaluate ethical dilemmas and conflicts from an Africa perspective, bearing in mind different value systems between western and African nations

The state of the responsible research and innovation programme: A case for its application in additive manufacturing

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Many of the ethical issues of additive manufacturing (AM) are not well known or understood, and there remains a policy vacuum that needs to be addressed. This paper aims to describe an approach that has been applied successfully to other emerging technologies, referred to as the responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework programme. A case is then made for the application of this approach in the AM industry with an illustration of how it might be used

Technofixing the Future: Ethical Side Effects of Using AI and Big Data to meet the SDGs

While the use of smart information systems (the combination of AI and Big Data) offer great potential for meeting many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they also raise a number of ethical challenges in their implementation. Through the use of six empirical case studies, this paper will examine potential ethical issues relating to use of SIS to meet the challenges in six of the SDGs (2, 3, 7, 8, 11, and 12). The paper will show that often a simple “technofix”, such as through the use of SIS, is not sufficient and may exacerbate, or create new, issues for the development community using SIS